Comments on: “The Plan”

By: Frances

Frances — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:29:49 +0000

Ditto Paul and Deb. Plus, no amount of money will stop the biological clock. I think new parents over-estimate the amount of “stuff” that is needed for children. Baby retail thrives off friends/family and 9 out of 10 garage sales are baby, baby, baby. And it is common for a new mom to have an “old mom” friend that wants to hand over all baby gear with a “no backs” agreement. However, I do think couples under-estimate the cost of child care, which can cost more than a second income.

By: Deb

Deb — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:39:05 +0000

I have to agree with Paul…I had kids before we had 9-12 months of emergency savings. I would say we had 2-3 and great insurance. Now we have 2 kids and I still don’t fully fund my Roth IRA, but I have one, and I’m content with what I put in. Could it be better? Sure…lots of things could. If you waited til everything was perfect and fully funded, it’ll never happen.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:09:53 +0000

I am going to have to disagree with the “must have a 9-12 month emergency fund” prior to getting pregnant thing – if you wait until everything is perfectly lined up, you will never have kids. You DO need good health insurance obviously. But having a plan to build up an emergency fund is enough. If I always waited until I was in perfect financial and life harmony to do something, I’d never do anything.

I’m also going to echo back your own advice on #9 and #10 Make more specific goals, less vague – I don’t know how you quantify either of them, but I know this year in my new year’s resolutions I put specific targets and I’ve stuck to them. The previous years’ goals of “Lose Weight” and “Go to the gym more” were too vague to happen.

By: the weakonomist

the weakonomist — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:22:08 +0000

As someone who once dropped from 245lbs to 170lbs and now sits comfortably at 190, the secret to losing weight is to talk about it all the time. Weigh yourself every day and share you progress with the world. This social method helps so much.

By: M E 2

M E 2 — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Amen, Jay!

I am so sick (and tired) of all the so-called financial experts berating people for not saving enough for their child(ren)s education. Seriously? WTH?? Please show/tell me where it is written that it is a parent’s duty to pay for their child(ren)s education? If you WANT to and can AFFORD to do so, more power to you. However, as Jay has already said, you can finance an education (and I realize that is no ones idea of an ideal situation) BUT you cannot finance a retirement!

By: Jay Gatsby

Jay Gatsby — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:35:19 +0000

Your plan is deficient. After you pay off your credit card, you MUST have an emergency fund of at least 9-12 months of expenses. Do not get pregnant before you do, or you may find yourself deep in the hole with another mouth to feed. If you don’t end up needing the emergency fund, you can begin to bleed off the excess interest into a college savings account for your future child.

I’d also recommend being in a position to fully fund your retirement accounts (401(k), IRA/Roth IRA) before you get pregnant. Children can be very expensive, and while your child can get a loan for college, you can’t get a loan for retirement.